No One Dreams Anyway
by Honeycreeper
Summary: He has no hopes. He thinks only of the task that needs to be accomplished. Then she came along, and suddenly there's a future in front of him that he prefers not to think about. He cannot dream of the future unless vicariously through her. ToddxMrs Lovett


Disclaimer : I own nothing.

Foreword : This is just short of a real hurt/comfort, but I labeled it as such anyway.

**No One Dreams Anyway**

"Aren't you tired, love? Don't you want to rest your eyes?"

She asked him this every night, and every night he said nothing. Every night he stared out the window, and despite his insomnia managed to fall into an uneasy sleep in his chair for twenty minutes if he was lucky.

"No. I'm fine."

Mrs. Lovett sighed and shook her head, "It's not natural you know, not sleeping. Something tells me you have to sleep to survive. It isn't natural!"

He shrugged, his face unchanging, "It's natural for me."

"Come on," she said, "You're coming with me. I won't have you staring into space like always, he's not around, Mistah T, and there isn't a chance of seeing him until day break."

She grabbed his hand, which jolted him - he remembered how long it had been since he'd had any real sort of human contact.

"You're going to sleep tonight, if only for a bit. I mean it too - I can't have you tired, it's not right."

Mrs. Lovett lead him to her tiny suite attached to their stores, in the basement between their place and the neighbor's. It was dank and dark, but was warm and there was a candle near the single window.

"I assume you know this place?" she asked.

"Yes, I remember it."

She turned to him, her face suddenly grim, "When you sit there at night, what do you think about?"

He shrugged again, "Him."

"Well that's terrible, you can't even think nice thoughts. Didn't you ever think about when you're done with him?"

She grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him onto the bed.

"When he's gone, what happens then, huh?"

He shook his head, "I'll... I don't know." a tiny smile played at his lips, "Hang myself I suppose."

When he looked up Mrs. Lovett looked horrified.

"Hang yourself!? And whatever for, you've got me now, and we've got Toby, and then you'll have Johanna. Talking crazy like that! There's more to life, you know."

"Is there?"

His face was limp and his eyes were sunken. He was but a shell of a man. He was dead inside. Couldn't she see that?

"You're really starting to scare me. Don't you care at all?"

He was still merely sitting on the bed, and when she realized Mrs. Lovett huffed and shoved him back, making him put his legs on the bed.

"You will sleep tonight, I'm making you."

"Yes, love." he said apathetically.

He stiffened when she too climbed on the bed.

"What's wrong? I have to sleep too." she said, placing herself next to him, "Besides, you need some company."

He grunted in disapproval but did nothing to push her off the bed or get rid of her. The ceiling was wooden and a dark, almost black brown in the light. The candle flickered in the corner of his eye. Despite the bed, he couldn't sleep.

"You know, Mistah T," she said, her voice so shrill it jolted him, "There is more, to answer your question. I was thinking a lot lately, you know, about the future -"

_Not this conversation_, he thought to himself.

"There's so many places I'd like to go. I want to ... I've been thinking about Toby lately. e's such a sweet little boy. Mistah T, I want to give him a good childhood you know. He's my responsibility now. I want to take him places. And -" she stopped and turned to him, smiling, "And I want you to be there."

He grunted and nodded, "I will be."

He didn't really mean it.

Her arms snaked around his middle, but he didn't stop it. "Oh thank you, Mistah T!" she said, squeezing him tight, "Can't you see it now? Once this whole mess is over? We'll all be quite happy, I believe."

He said nothing and did not return her embrace, and for a little while she was quiet as the candle was slowly burning out.

"Is that really all you think about?" she asked.

"Yes."

"You - " she paused, catching her breath, "You must have gone through a lot. Thinking of nothing but offing him all the time." she squeezed harder around him, "I'm so sorry, Ben!"

That was the first time she'd called him that since they'd first met. She was making odd sounds, little pants and whimpers, and when he looked down he realized she was crying against his chest.

"Don't do that." he said, trying to pull her off him.

"Oh God!" she said, "I'd kill him myself for putting you through such misery! I can't bear to see you like this!"

_But you've never seen me any other way._

"No, no, stop." he said, pulling her up, "Don't cry. Please don't."

She wiped away tears from her cheeks, breathing heavily, "I wish things had gone different for you, Ben. But then again," she smiled, her face wet and her eyes red, "if things had gone differently, I wouldn't have met you would I? We wouldn't have found each other."

He nodded. It was true.

"Sleep now." she said, but her hands moved to the back of his head, pushed him down onto her chest. At first he struggled, and tried to pull back, but she wouldn't stop. Soon he found himself cradled to her bosom, in the dark, as she softly cried.

He wasn't sure what perverse pleasure he found when he was pressed against her this way, almost in a mock fetal position, but her endless sobbing stirred something in him. She felt for his plight, and for this he was happy.

No, that wasn't completely why he was happy.

Someone else shared his misery.

Shared it enough in fact, that the usually stiff upper lipped woman had broke down and wept on him.

He knew she wept because he had no dreams, no hopes, no ambitions really - this upset her. He knew it should upset him, but it didn't.

To the sound of her crying he allowed himself to smile, widely, for the first time in a long time, and eventually, to sleep.

----

A/N : Yes, I was referencing Harley Quinn with the 'Mistah T' stuff. It's amazing how much Mrs. Lovett reminds me of Harley ;p


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